A car show was the highlight of the last Summerfest
event of the season held on the square in Woodsfield
Aug. 7. Two of the oldest cars entered in the show
belonged to Clarence Crum, left, and Marc Ring. Crum’s
vehicle is a 1931 Ford Model A Roadster.. It’s one of 10
he has restored over the years. Ring’s vehicle is a 1931
Ford Model A pick-up. It took him about one-and-a-half
years to restore and paint the antique pick-up.
“Clarence has been my go-to guy for technical details
since my grandpa passed away,” said Ring. Car show
winners included Marc Ring as Best of Show; Ron Pittman,
People’s Choice; Rusty Lewis, Mayor’s Choice. Carol
Hehr, Pat Lewis, Peg Beymer, Hattie Byers and Ruth
Workman, of the Summerfest Committee, appreciate all the
support they have received for this summer’s events. Photo
by Martha Ackerman

A controlled urban hunt and the purchase of property
were major discussions at the Aug. 3 meeting of
Woodsfield Council.

Dave Schott of the Soil and Water Conservation District
spoke to council on behalf of village residents having
problems with deer.

Mark and Margie Yoss, Eastern Ave., told council their
property is overrun with deer, resulting in an estimated
$1,000 worth of damages to landscaping.

“Harsh language does not work against them,” said Mark
Yoss, who indicated the deer pose health hazards, such
as the possibility of lyme disease.

The Yosses submitted a petition bearing 45 signatures of
residents in all areas of the village.

Schott suggested a controlled hunt during a deer-archery
season. He said hunters would have to adhere to hunting
regulations and the hunt would take place between Sept.
26 and the end of January. “Just follow regular daylight
hours and guidelines,” said Schott.

Because village ordinances ban firearms, bows and
arrows, those laws would have to be amended by village
council before a hunt could be permitted.

Councilwoman Carol Hehr, a resident of
Green St., also expressed
concern. She said she has seen up to 17 deer in her yard
at one time. She indicated she is in favor of finding a
way to control them.

Councilman Bill Moore, of
Maple Ave., said he has
watched deer come down the hill and enter on the mayor’s
property as well as his. He moved that council explore a
control hunt for deer and direct the solicitor to look
at all legal aspects. Council agreed on a 5-0 vote.
Council President Dale English did not vote as he
presided over the meeting in the absence of Mayor Bill
Bolon.

In another matter,
Moore
requested and was granted an executive session to
discuss the possible purchase of property. After that
session, council approved a motion by Moore to purchase the piece of ground at
$22,000. The land is located on the north side of the
municipal building. The property is owned by Mark
Landefeld.

On an emergency basis, council passed an ordinance for
ODOT to construct a right turn lane on
Lewisville Road
at Sycamore
St.

Moore
indicated he is not pleased and said he feels the state
owes the village an explanation as to why the lane is
being constructed. “There are a lot better ways to spend
money ...” he said.

Village Administrator Jeff Woodell reported approval of
a $350,000 OWDA grant which will be used in conjunction
with an ARC grant received for the waterline project
from RubelLake to the water plant.
As of August 3, over a mile of the waterline was
completed.

Woodell reported the lower dam was about eight-feet low
prior to recent rains. He said the dam is now only
two-feet down.

In another matter, the administrator reported
professional tree trimmers have been hired to trim trees
around power lines and to cut down trees located
directly under the power lines.

Woodell asked council’s permission to continue with
the project, noting he had authorized the spending of
$4,800 so far and about three more weeks are needed to
complete the project. It was noted that village crews
are also working on the project.

Explaining the project Woodell said for the past two
winters most of the power outages were due to trees in
the wires.

On a motion by Councilman Mike Cox, the project will
continue.Hehr
suggested an appreciation day for employees and families
as well as emergency and fire department personnel and
families. She suggested a pool party be held. Council
agreed and a date is to be set.

Councilman Cox commended volunteer firefighters and all
others who helped extinguish the recent fire in an
apartment building on East Court St.

Cox, a fireman, said he was leaning on a railing at the
apartment building and looking down into a stairwell. He
said the small area is filled with trash - beer bottles
and cans “trash of all kinds,” he said. “I realize
there’s been a fire there,” said Cox, noting the owner
will have to clean the building, Cox said that cleaning
the stairwell can be part of the cleanup.

It was noted there is a village ordinance that property
is to be kept free of litter.

Woodell reported that a representative of
Moore’s Music Emporium,
Bridgeport, will look at council
chambers with regard to replacing the current sound
system. The company will recommend a system for the room
and submit a quote.

Woodell said he should have the information by the Aug.
17 meeting.

In other matters, Woodell said a traffic light at the
intersection of McDonald’s was broken by a
tractor-trailer and two new lights have been ordered.
The second light at the corner will be stored and used
for parts.

Moore
reported on what he called “a very humane act” after the
East Court St. fire and wanted the person involved to
know that at least one individual appreciated a
fireman’s concern.

Moore said that after the fire was determined to be out,
a firefighter had just removed his protective fire gear
when two people, who apparently lived in the building,
came to the fireman and said, ‘There’s a little rabbit
trapped in the bathroom.’

“Without hesitating the fireman turned right around, and
put his gear back on and went up into the apartment and
about five minutes later, he brought a little white
rabbit to these people,” said
Moore. “I watched their
emotions.”

Carl Wayt, center, was honored in Columbus at the
Democratic Spring Banquet for serving 57 years as a
Democratic Central Committeeman. He was unable to attend
because of his health. The plaque was presented to him
at the Monroe County Democratic BBQ held Aug. 8 at the
Union Hall in Clarington. Shown, from left, are Herman
Zerger, Wayt and John Curtis.Photo by M. Ackerman

by Martha Ackerman
Staff Writer

Carl Wayt, Democratic Central Committeeman representing GreenTownship,
was honored at the Democratic BBQ held at the Union Hall
in Clarington Aug. 8.

Wayt, 93, has served as a committeeman for 57 years.
According to Wayt, his brother-in-law, John McCaslin,
held the position and when he accepted a state job, he
recommended someone else for the position. The chairman
at the time was the late Fred Williams. Wayt said that
Williams was not happy with the selection and asked him
to run. The rest is history. It’s been 57 years with
another year or so to go in this term. Will he run
again? “One day at a time. Maybe someone will decide to
run against me and win,” he said as a smile touched his
lips.

Wayt has voted in every election since he turned 21. His
first presidential vote, he remembers, was for Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s third term.

This soft spoken Laings resident was honored in Columbus at the spring banquet held in March,
but was unable to attend because of his health.
Presenting the plaque at the dinner were Herman Zerger
and John Curtis.

The certificate of commendation from Secretary of State
Jennifer Brunner reads, “ ... This certificate of
commendation is tendered on behalf of the people of the
State of Ohio as a small token of their gratitude and
admiration for the tireless efforts of Mr. Wayt, a
devoted public servant, who has commendably served the
people of Monroe County with justice, integrity and
care, having inspired great confidence in his ability
through his exceptional record of service and for which
for 57 years the citizens of Monroe County have placed
their trust in him.”

Around 1933 Wayt worked in a CCC camp for a little over
a year. He said it is similar to a welfare program. The
worker received room and board, $5 and $25 was sent home
to the worker’s family.

Wayt worked on the 24 inch pipeline during the war
years, he added. He traveled to Oklahoma, Kentucky and New York. When he married
Wanda McCaslin, he quit the pipeline and joined the
Marietta Labors Local 639. He wears his 50-year pin on
his lapel.

Wanda and Carl were married 58 years until her death in
2005. She was sick for a number of years and he took
care of her and cooked for the two of them. “Wanda was a
good cook,” he said. He took over those duties and
found he liked to cook although he doesn’t do much of it
now.

In his union days, Wayt worked on many local projects
including the construction of Conalco’s bright mill.
They would lay 1,100 yards of concrete in one day, he
noted. The bright mill, he explained, rolled and
finished aluminum foil.

He worked on the Ormet scrubber system, Remington Rand
in Belpre and Muskingum Power Plant in
Beverly. “I drove 70 miles to
work every day,” he said.

Swiss Hills was another project. “I worked the first day
and the last day,” he said. He worked as a foreman on
most of the construction jobs. He retired in 1980.

Monroe
County’s
Guide to Community Services was distributed to countians in the
July 30 Beacon. This valuable resource piece is a must for those
seeking information about county, village and township officials
and meeting dates, as well as the names and contact numbers for
legislators. Listed are the various organizations and churches
as well as numbers to call for counseling and assistance. The
Guide is available at no charge at the Beacon and various other
locations throughout Monroe
County. Pick one up; you’ll be
surprised at the information provided. Arlean Selvy, publisher,
takes a few minutes to look over the annual publication.
Photo by Martha Ackerman

Through the cooperative efforts of the Ohio Valley Community
Credit Union and the tourism committee of Team Monroe,
plans are underway to establish a riverboat museum in
Clarington.

The museum would be located on the main floor of the Ohio Valley
Community Credit Union, which is currently utilized as a
drive-thru facility only.

“We are currently in the process of pursuing financial and
organizational structure for the project,” said Tom Scott, Team
Monroe Community Developer. “When the museum opens, it will be a
showcase for residents to demonstrate their tremendous passion
for the contributions the river has provided to the proud and
outstanding heritage that is
MonroeCounty.”

The museum sub-committee of Team Monroe met at the credit union
August 3 and appointed Clarington resident Barbara Rush as
curator for the proposed museum and Fred McCabe of
Hannibal
was appointed to serve as the historian.

Election of officers will be held August 26 when the committee
meets at 10 a.m. in the credit union facility.

The Monroe County Historical Society, at its July 29 meeting,
voiced its support of the museum project.

“We’re thrilled that somebody else is helping to preserve MonroeCounty,”
said Joyce Wiggins, president of the historical society.
According to Wiggins, although there is no monetary support,
historical society members are excited about the project and
have offered their guidance in preserving and collecting
memorabilia for display.

“The credit union building is an excellent site to locate a
riverboat museum,” said Wiggins.

“It’s great the credit union is showing support for the
betterment of the county,” said County Commissioner Carl Davis.
“The museum will be an asset to the community as a whole.”

Davis
was pleased to learn that Fred McCabe will be the museum
historian. He noted McCabe has a huge interest in the river and
owns photos of many of the riverboats that travel the waterway.

Once procedures are in
place to ensure donated items are properly recorded and
accounted for, individuals who wish to contribute artifacts and
related items to the museum will be able to do so.

Our Readers Write:
Dear Editor,
We have a celebrity in our midst. I want to add my voice to many
others expressing honor and gratitude to
MonroeCountyWWII
veteran, Herman Zerger, Jr., to whom France has awarded the Knight of the
Legion of Honor medal.

Zerger and other
MonroeCounty veterans bring honor to our county
and deserve our undying admiration and thanks for their service
to our nation and to the cause of liberty.

Deb K. Ault Jones
Woodsfield

Dear Editor,
Who is going to pay for the taxes that Ormet is being assessed
if Ormet closes? The school board treasurer says that the new
owners will have to pay them. Just who is going to buy that
debt? The county? The county is “You”.

I sounded this alarm for months now.

Our Woodsfield administrator told me not to worry. He said he
had a meeting, along with our county commissioners, with the
Ormet Plant Manager, and was assured Ormet was going to remain
an employer here in MonroeCounty.

Now, the coal mines are under attack from the Obama
administration. I believe he has vowed to make coal too
expensive to remain an energy source. Same with oil.

Green is now the rage in the
United States with the Obama
Administration.

Is the new school buildings going to be just a monument to union
power? Unions were the main backer of the school bond and tax
levy issue. Well, out of county union workers are going to be
repaid, big time.

Ask Larry Elliott who is going to pay for the new schools now if
Ormet and our coal mines are forced to close.

Confidence comes not from always being right, but from not
fearing to be wrong.

About the only thing a person can do on a shoestring nowadays is
trip.

Pitty the poor pet rooster. It is being thrown out of its home.
This is no ordinary pet rooster. It has been the parade
marshall
in a parade and has taken part in several activities. It is
friendly and enjoys riding around on its owner’s bicycle handle
bars. I understand it is also kind of house broken.

Wouldn’t you know; a lady could not stand it or it disturbed her
when the rooster did what any red blooded rooster does every
morning.

Because of this, she took it to court. The judge ruled in her
favor by saying the rooster is livestock and raising livestock
is against the law in Miami, Fla.
So the poor rooster is out of a home.

I think they’re trying to work things out. I guess Miami allows only dead livestock in town, when
you think of all the hamburger joints in town. Honestly, I never
considered a rooster livestock even when I was suckered into
judging the poultry at the Monroe County Fair 40 years ago.

Forty years ago? I hadn’t given it much thought until I received
an invitation to attend a get together of the Skyvue Class of
1969. Hey, this was my first year of teaching at Skyvue. What an
experience.

I certainly hope a good number of the 69 class attends the get
together. I probably will not remember many of their names as
many of them are pushing the big 60. I can remember when I
thought a person 60 years old was really old. I’m looking
forward to attending this event and listening to all the stories
that have grown over the years.

Speaking of school, I read a few days ago what students have to
bring to school the first day. No wonder they need a large back
pack. I would have never made it. In fact, much of the required
stuff wasn’t even around when I started school. For example,
paper towels and Kleenex. Well, maybe we didn’t need the Kleenex
because if the sap started to run we just wiped it off on our
sleeve (still do sometimes).

Yes, I guess we had those small rolls of paper even if we still
used the old Monkey Ward catalog at home.

Something important. I understand we will be voting for a
renewal tax for the county extension service. It’s important for
the youth of our county. We do not want our 4-H program
curtailed or maybe lost.

We have already lost our FFA Chapter that was active over many
years. Actually, I think the thing that 4-H and FFA does is help
our youth learn to do and develop their leadership skills. Isn’t
this what we want of our youth?

Along this line, last week’s Beacon again included a picture of
Frontier FFA officers who attended FFA camp. Youth in our county
do not have the opportunity to attend FFA camp any more. For
years we’ve had a group of FFA members attend camp. At times 20
or more members. No more and no one seems to care.

As far as you could see most had an enjoyable time at the recent
carnival held in Lewisville. In addition to
all the activities, one of the good things about an activity of
this type is how folks stand around visiting with friends. We
don’t take time to do much of this anymore. It’s also good to
see all the folks working together to carry out an activity of
this type.

Our
Lewisville
firemen know how to cook chicken. I gobbled down a half a
chicken plus other goodies plus a piece of cake. Didn’t even
want a late night snack.

I recall we barbequed chicken at senior 4-H camp for an evening
meal. Once we had trouble getting the charcoal to heat up. We
held up with supper as the chicken was just starting to heat up.
We went on with camp activities after evening vespers. I wonder
if they still hold vespers at 4-H camp today? Chicken was ready
after vespers.

The campers were a bit hungry by that time but they really
enjoyed the meal. One of our counselor’s ate a whole chicken.
There was a happy bunch of campers all evening.

We also had an excellent parade. Although I turned my hearing
aids of,f there was still plenty of noise. The firetruck drivers
did not demonstrate the siren on their trucks all the way along
the parade route. I appreciated this.

We even had horses in the parade. What is a parade without
horses? Even if they leave a deposit every once in a while. One
in front of our house.

Something interesting about this pile. It got flattened out and
dried up by cars and hot sun. You could tell the horse had eaten
plenty of fiber. I was walking by it the other day and I swear
it looked as though there was a dime on top of the pile. I
didn’t bother to check it out. What can you buy with a dime? I
checked later on and it looked as though the dime was still
there, covered up. Today I looked again and everything was flat.
Now I’ll never know if there was a dime in the deposit or not.
I’m pretty sure the horse didn’t swallow a dime and you can’t
buy much for a dime nowadays. When I was teaching at Skyvue,
once in a while we would put a quarter on the floor when the
students were unloading in the morning. We lost very few
quarters.

Did you know
MonroeCounty is the only county in the state
without an FFA Chapter?

All of us, at some point in life, need to take advice and to get
help from other people.

Balog said his firm will start work on the
Hannibal-Sardis school project before working on the
Powhatan Point school because the site for the Powhatan
building has not been finalized.

The plan presented for the Beallsville building features
a two-story structure. Asked about a one-story school,
officials said the two-story building would not require
as much earthwork and would be more economical. The
topography and the smaller roof surface were the main
economic factors. At a prior meeting, the project
engineer said a two-story school would be a better fit,
and also would eliminate having to cut the nearby trees,
which make a nice backdrop for the facility.

JAMES D. DRUM James D. Drum, 87, Wheel-ing, died Aug. 5, in EastOhioRegionalHospital,
Martins Ferry. He was born April 11, 1922 in Wheeling.

He was the retired secretary-treasurer and part owner of
the former C.A. Robrecht, Co. and was an honor graduate
of BethanyCollege and an M.B.A. graduate of the WhartonSchool,
University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he was a fifty
year member of the First Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), Wheeling, where he had
been an elder, trustee and 50 year member of the choir.

Drum served as the past-president and director of the
Wheeling Association of Credit Management and the former
director of Children and Family Services. He also served
in the Army Air Corps during WWII, in the Persian Gulf
Command on BahrainIsland.

Surviving are his wife, Lois Cox Drum; a son, Dr. David
J.V. Drum and his wife Michelle (Herny) Drum of
Campobello,
S.C.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Vernon E. and
Sylvia Stephens Drum; a double cousin, Helen Drum
Hellstern.

Friends were received Aug. 7 at McCoy-Altmeyer Funeral
Home, Wheeling, then received Aug. 8 until time of
services at the First Christian Church, Wheeling, with
Rev. Maggie Sebastian officiating. Burial was in
GreenwoodCemetery,
Wheeling.

Memorial contributions may be made to either the
Alzheimer’s Association, W.Va. Chapter,
P.O. Box 591, Charleston, WV25322 or a charity of the donor’s
choice.

DORIS SCHABER
Doris Merckle Schaber, 75, Woodsfield, died Aug. 7,
2009, at MariettaMemorialHospital. She was born
April 5, 1934, in
Wheeling,
W.Va., a daughter of the late Roy
and Jessie Hissom Merckle.

She was a graduate of nursing from
OhioValleyGeneralHospital and was employed by BarnesvilleHospital for many years as a Registered
Nurse.

Surviving are her husband of 53 years, John Schaber; two
sons, Matt D. (Kim January) Schaber of Woodsfield, John
Mark Schaber of Columbus; a sister, June (Thomas) Lynskey of
Wheeling; three grandchildren, Vanessa, Nathan, Sarah
and numerous nieces and nephews.

There was no visitation. Arrangements by Bauer-Turner
Funeral Home, Woodsfield. Memorial contributions may be
made to Hospice of Marietta, 210 N. Seventh St., Suite 400,
Marietta,
OH45750.
Express condolences at
www.bauerturner.com

MAGGIE
E. McLAUGHLIN

Maggie E. Smith McLaughlin, 84,
Mansfield, died Aug. 8, 2009 at
her home. She was born May 7, 1925 in MonroeCounty,
a daughter of the late James and Edith Smith.

She spent her life as a homemaker and had a great love
of animals and enjoyed reading and caring for her
garden.